Machine for making wire rope



A. E. ANDERSON.

MACHINE FOR MAKING WIRE ROPE.

I APPLICATION FILED FEB. 25, I920.

Patented May 24, 1921.

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A. E. ANDERSON.

MACHINE FOR MAKING WIRE ROPE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 25. 1920.

3L 378,9322; Pafienfied May 24., 1921.,

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STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBIN E. ANDERSON, OF OAKMONT, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO PITTSBURGH WIRE ROPE COMPANY, OF VERONA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented May 24, 1921.

Application filed February 25, 1920. Serial No. 361,165.

T (J3 whom it may ooncem:

Be it known that I, ALBIN E. ANDERSON, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Oakmont, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Machines for Making Wire Rope; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to the manufacture of wire ropes and cables, and it has for one of its objects to provide a machine of the character indicated which shall be simple in construction, and which shall occupy a smaller floor space and require less driving power than machines which have heretofore been used for the same purpose.

Another object of my invention is to provide a machine for making wire ropes and cables which shall operate to lay up the wires forming the rope or cable without twisting the wires during their travel from the bobbins to the wire-laying mechanism.

With these objects in view, my invention consists in a construction and arrangement of parts, one form of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a side elevational view; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the structure shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a side view, partly in elevation and partly section, showing the mechanism for assemng and laying the wires; Fig. i is an end evational view of the flier frame and its sorting cradle; Fig. 5 is a front elevaview of one of the spiders composing u: flienframe; Fig. 6 is a fragmentary elexional view of a portion of the spider mum in Fig. 5, showing a device for lockthe wire bobbins in position; and Fig. Y is longitudinal view of a wire bobbin suitab for use in my machine.

achincs for making wire rope, as herere constructed, have consisted of a ro-- frame within which a number of wireing bobbins were supported with their perpendicular to the axis of rotation the frame. such bobbin be carried in a .aclret or other support disposed within e rotating frame, but prevented from ating with the frame. his arran ment s two principal disadva res. F i is iclrets or frames, which a): oport the wire bobbins, cc

2 amount of and s .1. x. .l from each iuiobin times by the rotation of the flier-frame before 1t is laid up with the other wires to form the rope. This twisting impairs the strength of the wires, and consequently of the rope, and the ropes so produced are never perfectly straight, but are always bent at short intervals on account of the twisting of the component wires. On account of the bent and twisted nature of the product, machines of this class are commonly termed snake machines.

According to my present invention, I obviate both of the disadvantages mentioned above by mounting the wire spools with their axes all disposed in a line coinciding with the axis of the flier-frame, and by reducing to a minimum the number of bends to which the wire is subjected between the spool and the finished rope. At first thought, it would seem that the machine would be lengthened by arranging the wire spools with their axes lengthwise of the machine, instead of crosswise, but such is not the case,'bec'ause the lengthwise arrangement, as in my present machine, does away with the frames for supporting the spools, and makes it possible to attach the spools directly to the spiders which compose the flier-frame. in addition, the twisting of the wires between the bobbins and the rope is entirely prevented, each wire being drawn from its bobbin at the speed and in the direction required.

For a more detailed description of my invention, reference may now be had to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing, which show the general construction of a machine consisting of a rotary flier-frame A, a twister-head or plate B, a drawing drum C, and a reel D for winding up the finished rope. Zower for driving the several rotary parts 0 the ma chine is derived from a suitabie source, not shown, through a belt which drives a puliey 3 secured to a horizontal shaft a; which carries the flier-frame it and the twisterhead B. Fiecured to the shaft is a spur gear-wheel 5 meshing with a pinion S which, in turn", drives a spur gear-wheel T carried by the rear end of a countershaft 8 that extends be the flier-f ame and carries at its forward end a bevei pi" i The bevel pinion 9 meshes with a '-wheel 1d secured to a stub-shaft i also carries spur gea" wheel 12 tha a set of ducing gears 18, 1d, 15 the fiat gear being secured to a horizontal shaft 17 which carries the drawing drum C. The shaft 17 also carries a pulley 18 which is connected by means of a belt 19 to a pulley 20 on a shaft 21 upon which is mounted the winding reel D.

The flier-frame A consists of a number of circular spiders 25 connected together by means of parallel rods 26, which, as shown, are three in number, although a larger number of connecting rods may be used if desired.

Each of the spiders 25 rests upon a pair of anti-friction rollers 27 that are supported in bearings in the standards 28. Certain of the standards 28 carry yokes 29, at the top of which are supported anti-friction rollers 30 for the purpose of preventing upward movement of the frame which might occur during rapid rotation.

Each of the spiders 25 carries a pair of bearings 31 for supporting the squared end of bars 32, upon the circular intermediate portion of which are mounted wire-carrying bobbins 33, as shown in Fig. 7. Each of the bars 32 is preferably provided with a collar 34, near one end, for properly positioning the bobbin 33.

In order to fasten the bars 32 and the spools 33 firmly but releasably in the bearings 31, I provide a device which isshown in detail in Figs. 3 and 6, and which consists of a bracket 35 secured to one ofthe three radial arms 36 of the spider 5, and having inwardly extending projections 37 which coiiperate with projections 38 on the bearing 31 to receive a key 39 provided with a depression in which is received a locking pin 40 that is pressed into the depression by means of a helical spring 41. It will be evident that each wire bobbin may be readily removed from the machine by raising the pins 40 from the keys 39, removing the keys, and lifting the bar 32 from the bearings 31.

In order to prevent the spools 33 from over-running during the operation of the machine, I provide each bobbin with a brake which consists ofa strip of spring-metal 43 bolted to one of the arms of the adjacent spider and-exerting a yielding pressure on the flange of the bobbin.

The wire for each of the spools 33 is led around a small sheave 45 carried by one of the rods 26, each of these sheaves being carried in a support 46 which is clamped to the rod 26, as shown in Fig. 5.

From the first sheave 45 each wire is led forward to a point opposite to the first wirebobbin where it passes over a second sheave 47 and thence to the twister-head B. Fig. 4 shows the arrangement of sheaves 47 for a machine that operates upon seven strands of wire, and it will be observed that the sheaves 47, like the sheaves 45, are carried by suitable suppo s 48 secured to the rods 26. The strand from the bobbin nearest the front of the machine follows a somewhat different course, since this strand is to form the core of the rope and may consist of either wire or cord, according tothe kind of wire rope that is being made. It is led from one of the sheaves 47 to a sheave 49, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, and thence through a central opening 50 in the twister-head B. This twister-head consistsof a shaft 51 secured in any convenient manner to the forward spider 5to rotate co-axially therewith, and carrying the sheave 49 and a plate consisting of two parts 52 and 53 which are provided with a series of registering openlngs 54 through which the wire strands are passed. In each of the openings 54 is disposed an anti-friction roller 55. The construction of this twister-head forms the subject of my co-pending application for Letters Patent, Serial No. 361,166 filed February 25,,1920.

After passing through the twister-head B the wires are led through a spring-pressed clamp 56 and thence around the winding drufn C and the reel D, the clamp, winding drum and reel being such as are commonly employed in this art, and therefore not being described in detail.

In the operation of my machine, the bobbins of wire having been placed in position and the wires led forward in the manner indicated above, the machine is started and the flier-frame A is rotated at high speed. During such rotation, each of the wire bobbins is free to rotate in response to the pull of the wire, the wires being maintained under tension by means of the brakes 43. It will be observed that each wire is unwrapped from its bobbin and led forward to the twister-head without its being twisted in transit, and that each wire changes direction only twice before it reaches the final twisting mechanism. This reduction in the number of bends to which the wire is subjected makes it possible to drive the machine with materially less power than has heretofore been necessary in machines of this kind. For the same reason, and also because the wires are not twisted on their way to the final twisting mechanism, the machlne may be operated at much higher speed than the machines which have heretofore been used.

I have found that the saving in floor space resulting from the lengthwise arrangement of wire bobbins, as indicated above, amounts to as much as 50 per cent, and that the resulting compactness gives a construction of greater rigidity than has heretofore been possible. Also, since the bobbins rotate with the machine, and at a corresponding speed, it is not possible for a wire, if it should break, to catch the frame of the machine and cause breakage of the cradle or other parts.

While I have herein shown and. described a preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that numerous changes may be made therein, and I therefore desire that no limitations be imposed upon my invention except such as are indicated in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a machine for making wire rope, the combination of a rotatable frame consistin of a plurality of circular spiders connected by means of longitudinal rods, and bearings carried by the said spiders for supporting' wire-carrying bobbins co-axially with the said frame and separately removable therefrom.

2. In a machine for makingwire rope, the combination of a rotatable frame consistin of a plurality of circular spiders connected by means of longitudinal rods, bearings carr1ed by the said spiders for supporting wirecarrying bobbins co-axially with the said frame, and separately removable therefrom and a sheave carried by one of the said longitudinal rods adjacent to each of the said bobbins. v

3. In a machine for making wire ropes, the combination of a rotatable frame com rising a plurality of circular spiders antiriction rollers for supporting the said spiders, lon- "ried b gitudinal rods connecting the said spiders, bearings carried by the said spiders for supportingl a pluralit o'f wire-carrying bobbins co-axia ly with t e said frame and separately removable therefrom, keys for releasably securing the said bobbins in place, and a sheave carried by one of the said lo tudinal rods adjacent to each of the said 8%)- bins.

. 4. In a machine for making wire rope the combination of a rotatable frame comprising a plurality of circular spiders, a plurality of standards, anti-friction rollers carried by the said standards and supporting the said spiders, anti-friction rollers engaging above certain of the said spiders, longitudinal rods connecting the said spiders, bearin carthe said spiders, shafts i aving s uare ends received in the said bearings, shdable keys adjacent to the said bearings for holding the said shafts in place, and spring-pressed means for positioning the said keys.

In'testimony whereof I the said ALBIN E. ANDERSON, have hereunto set m hand.

. ALBIN E. AN ERSON. Witnesses:

A. E. CLANOY, R. D. BROWN? 

